The List: 20 Nov 1992 (Issue 189)

I Ensure: Pop! - The First Twenty Hits (Mute) ‘nis is a general list of synthesisers you may or may not be interested in.‘ states the sleeve. Was it ever thus; I can exclusively reveal that Erasure make synth-pop. and of this they are proud as pie. Synth-pop with balls and bells on. Adorned with cankers and medallions, trinkets and jewelled serenity. Tunes and choruses with a rapacious infection, guaranteed to bring a smile to the most p0 of faces. Hit singles with a controlling interest in the Top 40. Pop pop pop, fun fun fun, joy joy joy. (Next week: Erasure save the world and find a cure for the common cold.) (Craig McLean)

I Cui De Sac: ECIM (Cappella) Cui De Sac are American instrumentalists who no doubt have fascinating record collections, and ECIM is very soothing and textural and dextrous and all that. The band‘s Achilles Heel, however, is their tendency to meander and let their paucity of ideas and New Age sensitivities drag them whimpering into the land of wallpaper music rather too often. Symptomatically, they show they can build up a splendid Can-like propulsion on the Opening track, but then fail to take it anywhere. A version of ‘Song To The Siren‘, sung in a grotesque but accurate parody of Tim Buckley, shows they at least have a sense of humour. (Alastair Mabbott)

I Billy Childish And The Black iianrls: The Original Chatham Jack (Sub Pop) Or Wow! Billy Childish! , as he‘s usually referred to by those in the know: mainstay of The Milkshakes and Thee Headcoats and enough of a serious cult to persuade Sub Pop to put out this hommage to primal blues played on guitar, tea-chest bass and accordion, with Childish hollering crazin through a megaphone.

I Robert Wyatt: A Short Break (Volceprint) Wyatt‘s own description of this

I mini-album sums it up:

‘Five abstracted sketches,

postcards from the home

front (I have to take, now and then, some time out for a short break)‘. Taken

, onthoseterms,this . cheaply-recorded artefact

is ﬁne background music.

' Wyatt tinkles away on

light percussion and emits the occasional sad moan, just playing to please himself. ‘Unmasked‘, though, coalesces into a

‘ proper song, worthy of

inclusion on any of his

‘ ‘proper‘ albums. (Alastair

Mabbott)

I London Wainwright Ill: iilstory (Virgin) How would

you feel if you were a

talented singer-songwriter who never got his ‘American Pie"? Luckily, Wainwright doesn‘t seem too pissed off with two

decades of comparative obscurity. He strikes an amiany cynical note with ‘People In Love‘, like a C&W David Byme, which is not (admit it) something most of us would like to wake up beside. ‘The Doctor' and ‘Talking New Bob Dylan' are funny, but Wainwright‘s been funnier before, and with greater subtlety. Mainly, History runs on sentiment, but that doesn’t prevent it from being genuinely moving at times. Even if you're exasperated by Wainwright’s pontiﬁcations or feel you‘re drowning in his guilt, there are evocative, keenly-observed songs like ‘The Picture‘ to make up for it. Despite some

: reservations, History ain‘t

bunk. (Alastair Mabbott) I Codeine: Barely Heal

; (Still Pop) Codeine is a

downer, an analgesic I often used in cough l mixture preparations. Sub

; Pop is a visionary

noisecore label. The

presence of such anodyne grace in the home of

brattish garage punk is a beguiling prospect which

: sadly evaporates on vinyl contact. The seeds of

piano electric keyboards distinction are there and

it’s conceivable that fans

will cast their burdens on

to Codeine, but there‘s

' something not quite right in their articulation of

‘ melancholy— it‘s the

absence of the

heart-wrenching melodies that American Music Club and newcomers Red

House Painters cleave to.

Instead Codeine proffer ﬁve leaden opiates and one aimless meander over the ivories, which sounds like Talk Talk on a navel-gazing bender.

(Fiona Shepherd)

V JAZZ

I Gary Thomas: Till We Have Faces (JIIT) Along with Greg Osby, Gary Thomas has been tipped as a saxophonist to watch

; at the more unorthodox . end of the jazz spectrum,

and his approach to standards on this set is certainly far from, well, standard. The most enjoyable aspect of the disc, though, is his fierce musical interchange with Pat Metheny, who is on all but one cut, and it is great to hear the guitarist being pushed — and responding electrifyineg - in a challengingjazz setting. Thomas is a strong and resourceful improviser, and gets good support from his rhythm players. Worth checking out. (Kenny Mathieson)

I John Patltuccl: Heart at the Bass (Stretch/GR?) A departure from his usual modes for the bass player,

who is best-known here for his work with Chick Corea in both acoustic and electric jazz. This set concentrates on a classical, composed feel, in trumpeter Jeff Beal‘s Concerto forlazz Band & Orchestra and Corea’s Miniatures for 5010 Bass, Piano and String Quartet, as well as Patitucci‘s solo bass version of a Bach ‘Prelude in G Major‘. It’s

all a little too pictorial and well-behaved,but is

ravishineg played, and the instrumental sound is

lovely. (Kenny

Mathieson) I iial Russell: Hal’s

Bells/Jan Garbarelt and

Usted Fatah All Khan: Rages and Sagas (ECM)

The late

drummer-turned-free- saxophonist Hal Russell acts as his own band on this session, playing saxes and trumpet as well as a

1 range of percussion. Inevitably a little uneven.

i

it nonetheless has the energy and invention

which characterised last

year‘s The Finnish/Swiss Tour disc. Garbarek fans might be disappointed that the Pakistani musicians tend to dominate in this clash of musical traditions, but the Norwegian weighs in with

some characteristically

plangent saxophone. (Kenny Mathieson)

. I David Mumy Quartet +

1: F881 Lite (DIW) Murray‘s

capacity to surprise is not

what it once was, but he

‘ remains a supremely

powerful saxophonist, and

spans a vast stylistic range ; in his playing. He isin

expansive mood on this 1991 recording, and gets excellent backing from the rhythm section of John Hicks, Ray Drummond

. and Idris Mohammed,

with fellow tenor man Branford Marsalis guesting on the relaxed ‘Cruciﬁcado‘ and the free-blowing title track. A typically strong, if unexceptional, set. (Kenny Mathieson).